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Monday Notes & Links

Euro Trip

Ace posted an update about Michigan alums playing in the NBA Summer League. Ace points to the fact that Petway is the only U-M player in the Summer League as a symbol of Tommy Amaker’s failures which I suppose is true to some extent. Player development was no doubt an issue under the Tommy Amaker regime and whether it was a result of poor talent evaluation as well can be debated for ages.

Ace mentions that Daniel Horton is “off the radar” which is partly true. Horton underwent shoulder surgery in December which shortened his 2008-2009 season in France. In an attempt to find where Daniel is headed next I uncovered a recent interview with Eurobasket.com where Daniel talks about the last couple years and what might lie ahead. Daniel was one of my favorite Wolverines and his 39 point performance against Dee Brown and the Illini stands out as one of the best in recent history. Here’s a snippet:

What leagues you are planning to try the following years?Daniel Horton: I want to try whatever league that has a team or a club that wants me. In particular, I would love to play in Spain or Italy, maybe Russia as well. I am willing to play anywhere as long as its the right fit for my family and I. Hopefully I keep improving and a major club wants to bring me in to be their point guard.

But, the player who impressed me the most this weekend was Pendleton Heights soph-to-be Kellen Dunham, who as a tenth grader has my personal vote as the best pure shooter in the state. Dunham earned MVP honors for the Central Stars, who won their 15U bracket, by scoring 34 and 28 points in their final two tourney games, with eight threes in each game. He is not one dimensional as you might think, like a Matt Roth. Dunham had several great drives which resulted in slashing scores, getting to the line, or nice assists to teammates, including a no-look dime in the finals that brought cheers from the crowd. In the finals, Dunham started the game nailing his first six threes, four of them in the first two minutes. The outburst from the fans made college coaches, including Crean and Fife, leave the 17U championship for a while to watch Dunham’s display. Kellen was recently at the IU elite camp where he thoroughly impressed, and if he continues to play like he has recently, he is no doubt a Big Ten-caliber player. If he grows another inch or two from his current 6’3 and 1/2 and can add strength, he could be the next Scott Wood, as one college coach told me.

Dunham is only a 2012 prospect and I’m not sure about the level of competition he was facing at this tournament but with his shooting ability he certainly has to be on the radar.

Brandan informed that it will be his family helping him make his college decision, which he does not have a timetable for yet. However, he is putting together a school list. “I’ve played well this summer and I knew I had to pick it up. I’ve gotten offers from; Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State.” Dad pointed out that the rest of the school lists appears as, “Syracuse, Tennessee, Florida, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Miami, and Indiana.” Brandan has already visited Michigan, a visit that went well and plans on taking one to Florida and perhaps Kentucky for now.

A well-built, strong-bodied guard, Brundidge is an excellent penetrator who can really get to the basket. Furthermore, Brundidge has deep range and will shoot from three consistently. He can penetrate to the rim and dish it off to teammates for open shots. Brundidge is quick with the ball and shields it well when driving. Defensively, he picks up steals and plays passing lanes well.

Jonathan Alredge

There has been lots of talk about Jonathan Alredge’s reported scholarship offer that I linked to on Friday. NBE reported the offer but at this point I would assume that no offer has been made.

As we have learned over the last few years, John Beilein does not hand out many scholarship offers and it doesn’t make much sense for someone to come onto the radar out of nowhere and already have an offer. The situation could get confused in any number of ways, perhaps Arledge was referring to the fact that Michigan wants to get him on campus or maybe just the fact that there is some sort of mutual interest.

The priorities are very clear at this point for the 2010 class and the chances that Michigan offers other players before the players at the top of the board decide are very low.

Thanks for the update, Dylan. I did a little Google-searching for Horton but couldn’t find much when I threw up that post. I still think anyone who watched Horton play as a freshman expected more than a career overseas out of him, but it’s hard to say how much of that to put on Amaker and how much of that to put on Horton himself.

It’s probably a bit unfair to put the blame on individuals’ careers turning out poorly squarely on Amaker, although part of the problem is that he recruited players who didn’t pan out on either the college or professional level, and players never seemed to improve much while they were in college. I still think if Horton committed to, say, any of the other teams that offered him (UNC, Texas, Arizona, Cal, Florida, Illinois) he would have improved more as a player and at least had a better shot at the league than he did as an undrafted FA out of Michigan.

Great find with the Asselin and Traylor interviews … I’m glad to see both of them still playing, especially Tractor. I know he was playing in the Summer League last year and I was hoping he would catch on somewhere, but it might be better for him to play overseas anyways.

gpsimms

Did I hear Sam Webb say that Brandan Kearney is likely to make a decision in the summer? Like this summer? A decision that early almost has to be good, right?

Tom Too

That would be money…

mmccrae

I would LOVE that… but i could also hate it… Is it true?

Dave

does comparing kearney to manny mean he will be playing the wing if he chooses michigan……….i thought he was a point guard

Ken in Vegas

I think Brundidge was more of the point guard type.

Kenny

If Kearney commits in the summer, will we still have a spot for Zeigler or Prather. If the answer is yes, then Kearney will suit up for PG.

Brundidge is not a wing he would be a guard in this offense. Kearney has the length of a wing but its possible he could be a guard if his ballhandling keeps developing over the next few years. Trey is a kid that could come in and fill at one of the guard spots when needed, but would most likely play most of his minutes at Manny’s wing spot.

Tweeter

I give him an 8 on the dunk. It shows a great deal of cordination, but not a ton of athleticism involved. Nice that it was noted as the best dunk during that dunk session, but I dont know if that says more about that particular dunk or the rest of the dunks.

On kearney: he reminds me most of Chris Douglas-Roberts. Very Similar bodies and the way they get off their jump shot is similar. I dont know if he is as athletic as CDR though. Dont like the comments about OSU from papa Kearney either. The only time I want to hear someone use the words “love” and “ohio” in the same sentence, is if the words “to hate” are inserted between them.

Talks about UK going pretty hard after Casey Prather. Also his former AAU teammate is a freshman at UK, and has been pushing him to go there.

Tom Too

ahhhh, that is tuuuuufff stuff right there. I will be difficult to go head-to-head against UK….especially if Prather doesn’t have to take the SAT by himself.

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